GREENING OUR WATERWAYS Bowman Bradley, leader of IWA’s steering group set up to examine alternative forms of propulsion, offers his vision for more sustainable boating
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he overwhelming proportion of craft currently navigating our inland waterways are propelled by fossil fuels, mainly diesel but in many cases petrol. While their overall contribution to UK carbon emissions is small, it will inevitably come under scrutiny in the near future and, in any case, we also have a social responsibility to ‘do our bit’. While there are many steps boaters can take right now to reduce carbon emissions from their craft, such as not running engines at locks, the thrust of this feature is to paint a picture of what sustainable propulsion on our canals and rivers might look like in the coming decades. Technology will inevitably develop, possibly in ways we do not envisage, but IWA’s focus is on technologies that are currently available or close to being available rather than ‘blue sky’ thinking. There are many stakeholders in the inland waterways world, from boaters, navigation authorities, boat-builders and marinas, to hire companies, chandlers, marine surveyors, BSS inspectors and more. Most will be required to make a significant (to them) investment if we are to resolve the issue. It is hoped that our vision for the future, if ultimately validated, will allow these groups to move forward with a degree of confidence. When we talk about the boats themselves, we’re mainly referring to steel, diesel-powered canal craft, both narrow and wide-beam. The reason for this is the large number in the existing fleet and within the IWA membership, as well as the similarities of the basic design. However, the principles established will be applicable in some cases to other types of craft, including river boats, but not all. This is not a technical feature, but is assembled from my technical knowledge (limited), the useful discussions that have taken place over the last month or two with IWA colleagues, and some feedback from the ‘trade’. Hopefully it will prompt others with specialist knowledge or bright ideas to do further work to underline or amend the vision. The problems are largely economic and logistical rather than technical.
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Mothership Marine’s 57ft semi-trad stern with 10kW electric drive and 2kW of solar panels was launched last year. It’s not entirely electric – a 7kW ‘rangeextending’ generator is also on board – but it’s not bad!
New-build boats It seems extremely likely that the canal boat of the future will be driven by an electric motor. The technology exists and is mature. Quite a few boats have been built over the years with electric motors and they work. Motor vehicle technology will lead development. As with road vehicles, the problem is how to carry the energy around. Hydrocarbon liquids are a very efficient and effective method of transporting energy. There are two current solutions, both of which are being actively developed for road and rail vehicles: 1) Batteries: There are very few issues installing a battery bank in a narrowboat. Weight is not a problem and space is more readily available than in a car. Power requirements are well within the range of the current technology and less than most road cars. The main drawback of batteries is range and recharge times. Both will improve. Batteries can be recharged using a shore connection, by onboard photovoltaic cells or small wind turbines. PV cells and wind turbines, given the current state of development, will not be able to provide all the energy required. However, PV cells are developing rapidly. Batteries can also be charged by hydrogen fuel cells, see below. Batteries are, of course, only ‘green’ if the electricity used to charge them is ‘green’, which at the moment is only partly true. This is a national problem and will not be addressed here. There are also environmental issues around the manufacture, recycling and disposal of batteries. 2) Hydrogen: Hydrogen is an efficient method of transporting energy but not as good as hydrocarbon liquids. The hydrogen is converted Spring 2020 23/01/2020 13:04
